took you long enough to get this out of your system. ara and i were standing next to each other during the listen and it was a constant back and forth nudging each other, whispering thoughts of each song and passing the mock-up cover of blunderbuss back and forth to read track listings. couldn't have asked for a better listening "partner".anonymousbrunette wrote:Those in attendance have already posted great reviews of the album. If I duplicate anything here, please forgive me. Admittedly I was nervous about reporting back before I booked the flight. Being part of the community I knew how hungry Swirlers would be for every bit of information on the new album. Unfortunately for those who want a track-by-track breakdown, this recap will only serve to annoy the shit out of you since I feel things more than I remember details. On top of being poor at retaining details, it usually takes me a while to digest what I've heard and put words to experience. Most of TMRs bands, including The White Stripes and Dead Weather, have taken time to fully sink in (I'm slow like that). I'll also admit that after some of Third Man's recent releases (read "Lich Mein Arse") I was a little nervous about what an unbridled Jack White would produce.
But damn if this album won't rock you to your core. The reaction was visceral. Blunderbuss has all of the energy that you fell in love with the Stripes for, all of the power of the Dead Weather, and all of the songwriting finesse of the Raconteurs. Like guitar? Bam! Keys your thing? This is GBMS on a Red Bull binge. The whole album is a ride. Actually two rides. Let me 'splain.
The energy of the first side, so brilliantly constructed track-wise, is what hit me immediatly. People's first inclination will be to find all the similarities to White's previous endeavors and they are all there, but the ingredients are different (was that funk I heard in Missing Pieces? Rap in the following track?) The sound (esp. Sixteen Saltines, Freedom At 21 and Hypocritical Kiss) is something so crisp and modern that anyone not already residing in the red and white empire will have the wind knocked out of them, and are likely begin handing over taxes immediately. By the time Freedom at 21 concludes, you're already having visions of those blistering live guitar solos that had you salivating for Blue Veins. After the now familiar listen Love Interruption, I expected to be assaulted again but contrary to its name, the title track Blunderbuss is a precisely and meticulously executed tune. If the Raconteurs fans weren't already pulling out the keys by this point it would be hard to miss them in Hypocritical Kiss. The keyboards in some of these tracks is insane. A few songs are aurally dripping with them. As Jack has pointed out, a piano is just another percussion instrument. And after listening to the first side you get the feeling that every instrument is just that - something intended to reverberate.
The B side comes across as something altogether different and will sate me in alternate moods. It sounds like every collaboration and influence in the last five years (Wanda, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul McCartney and Ricky Skaggs are some that come to mind) is honored here. The cover of I'm Shakin' kicks off a side that seems to track the genealogy of rock & roll. The only kink in the second side for me was Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy which I have a hard time imagining being performed live. But that's purely personal taste as it will likely become the cult fave of the record. The split personality of Take Me With You When You Go rounds out what is wholly an epic release by an already accomplished artist. This shapeshifter will appeal to an even wider range of music fans. There's a lot of diversity among fans of Jack White but this will surely be the one album to bind them all.
It turns out that Jack White is greater than the sum of his parts. If you'd asked me last week if I ever thought that he would pop up in our "Artists whose solo work outshines their work in bands" thread I'd have laughed. But last week I also couldn't have conceived of Blunderbuss.
Random Notes:
As for the event itself, it was definitely a trip through the looking glass. If Jack wasn't a musician, producer, actor, media mogul already, he'd be tops in cutting edge interior design. I have skull envy. I'm just saying.
And the staff - while we've been drinking the Kool-aid for years, TMR's employees must be using it to wash down magic brownies too. Everyone is ridiculously warm and friendly. So much so that visiting Nashville is like coming home to family. Sound creepy? Yeah, just a bit.
Swank divulged that the new space next door was just that - space - and for the time being will serve to get people out of the closets they've been working in. I also think that he bakes the brownies.
As already noted, Blackwell revealed that the school project releases will have a regular old TMR number which will screw over completists and well won't that be fun for the 99% (my words, not his.) He also refused to tell us who was on the album except to say that it wasn't the usual TMR gang and was a whole slew of people from all over.
Blackwell has his work cut out (and pressed) for him. If the 7" run of 10,000 was unexpected (he said they originally ordered 7k thinking it would be MORE than enough), I hope that Blunderbuss' reception will be another pleasant surprise.
The album I felt was pretty upbeat. The first side was instrumentally aggressive but I didn't interpret it as angry. Even Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy was a perky little ditty so I didn't get melancholy out of it at all. Perk up Shane.
Consumables: Flavored fizzies, chips, donuts, fruit, and a heap of fine music. Thank you TMR.
P.S. I will never post something this long again. I promise.
i agree, best review so far.
